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Portsmouth, Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
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Satirical dialogue from the Pennsylvania Journal depicting Prince William Henry confronting General Henry Clinton about British military failures in the American Revolution, including the siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown and losses to French forces, leading to the prince's dismay over the empire's collapse.
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A Dialogue between PRINCE WILLIAM HENRY & HENRY CLINTON, at their second interview in New-York.
Prince. Good morning Sir Harry!
I have done myself the honor of waiting upon your Excellency to beg the use of your bay horses to take a little excursion into the country.
Sir Harry. How far does your Royal Highness propose going?
Prince. Into Jersey and Pennsylvania, where, after spending a few weeks, I propose to travel through Maryland, and afterwards pay my respects to Lord Cornwallis the noble conqueror of the South.
Sir Harry. I am sorry to inform your R. H. that Jersey and Pennsylvania are still in the possession of the Rebels.
Prince. Rebels! It is impossible! Nine tenths of the Inhabitants of those provinces are in favour of my father's government. --I expected the royal standard would, before this time, have been planted in every country to the Southward of New-York.
Sir Harry. Your Royal Highness has been deceived. The delays and blunders of the Ministry, and the mistaken severities of the military, have created a large majority, in all the colonies in favour of the Congress.
Prince. But I must see Lord Cornwallis
Sir Harry. This I fear will be impossible. His Lordship is now besieged at York by an army of 15,000 men, & the only avenue to him through the Chesapeake is blocked up by a French fleet of 36 sail of the line.
Prince. The devil! But can nothing be done to relieve his Lordship.
Sir Harry. Every thing has been done that valor and zeal for his Majesty's service could do--Admiral Graves had well nigh sacrificed his little fleet in supporting the power and fame of Britain on the ocean in a conflict with a French fleet off the capes of Virginia, he has returned defeated, and shattered in such a manner that I fear half his ships will be rendered unfit for service.
Prince. And must they have Cornwallis, the idol of my father's heart, the boast of England, the American hero, fall?
Sir Harry. I see nothing to prevent it.
Prince. And pray Sir Harry, where is the rest of my father's territory in America?
Sir Harry. His Majesty's territory at present, in the thirteen revolted provinces, is confined only to the garrisons of New-York, Charlestown and Savannah.
Prince. O heavens! what do I hear? Why, Sir Harry, you have petrified me, Damn the loyalists, all this comes from listening to their tales. They teazed my father into this cursed war. I wish he may hang Galloway at the yard arm of a seventy four. Where is Mr. Smith the Counsellor, he is one of your whining nine tenths men that has lugged us into this gulph stream.--- O! my poor mother, how I pity her! my father will break her heart with pouting when he hears these accounts from America. Poor Lord North and Lord George Germain will be torn to pieces by the populace. America lost! The brightest jewel in my Father's crown is fallen! Alas! what will become of my brother George. The kingdom's now hardly worth inheriting,&before it descends to him, he will probably hold it upon a tributary tenure to the monarchies of France and Spain--Alas! what will become of my poor brothers and sisters? O! Matilda! Oh Sophia! But I must away. I will be revenged upon your vile loyalists who have divided the British empire, and brought this ruin upon my father's family.
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Literary Details
Title
A Dialogue Between Prince William Henry & Henry Clinton, At Their Second Interview In New York.
Author
From The Pennsylvania Journal
Subject
Satire On British Defeats In The American Revolution
Form / Style
Satirical Dialogue In Prose
Key Lines